GUELPH POLITICAST #136 - Lyndsey Butcher, SHORE Centre

If you know what sex education is going to look like when school starts on Tuesday, then you're either the education minister, or one of several teachers that's going to defy the provincial government and teach the 2015 health curriculum update anyway. Can anything good come from all this confusion?

GUELPH POLITICAST #135 - On Development, Part I: "The Big Picture"

Is the rapid state of development making Guelph lose its character? This is a question more and more people have this election year as plans for bigger and bigger residential buildings keep coming to city council. Meanwhile, Clair-Maltby lies in wait in the south end for an official plan. So how do we know we're developing right?

GUELPH POLITICAST #134 - Building the Cycling City

A few weeks ago, the new Ontario government cancelled $93 million of funding for something called the Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling (OMCC) program. The money, which was raised from the cap and trade agreement, was for cycling infrastructure in towns and cities across the province, and the move is proof of just how hard it is to make cycling a priority for governments, but there is hope!

GUELPH POLITICAST #133 - Cathy Downer on AMO

At city council this week, a resolution from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) to support the North America Free Trade Agreement and stand with governments across Canada against Donald Trump's aggression on trade was passed unanimously. You may be asking, "What good does that do?" You may also be asking, "What the heck is AMO again?"

GUELPH POLITICAST #132 - Plastic Free Guelph

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean there's a big floating mass of plastic that's roughly three times the size of France. While it's true that much of that plastic is fishing equipment, and about two-fifths of it comes from just five countries in southeast Asia, it's making us all think about our wasteful ways, especially when it comes to plastic.

GUELPH POLITICAST #131 - Back With the Back-Grounder

News is the art of delivering the day's information in an organized and coherent way, but stories don't just happen with a beginning, middle and end all in one day. Some of the biggest stories, including the most important stories, trace their roots back many years. In the news, there's an important function to not just understand the day's events, but the events that led to the day's events.

GUELPH POLITICAST #130 - Reviewing the Service Review

Is our waste collection and processing the best it can possibly be? That was the simple question at the heart of the Service Review of the City of Guelph's Solid Waste Department. Solid Waste was the first of three pilot Service Review projects approved by city council, an immense months long project that yielded 11 recommendations.This is the rest of the story.

GUELPH POLITICAST #129 - Xicotencatl Lopez

In as much as the murders of Colten Bushie and Tina Fontaine were shocking, it was somehow even more shocking when those murders went unavenged as both perpetrators were found not-guilty of second degree murder. It's enough to make you wonder why more Indigenous youth aren't angrier and more active. Well, this is a podcast about one who is.

GUELPH POLITICAST #128 - Guelph Wellington Oral Health Action Committee

The saying goes, "let a smile be your umbrella," but there are a whole lot of people out there for whom their smile is a source of grief, and not a source of relief. Before we go into Election Day, let's hear from some people talking about one of the election issues that has not gotten a lot of press, but is nonetheless factored into every major party platform in someway: dental care.

GUELPH POLITICAST #127 - The OGRA Sessions

It was a major conference of municipal leaders, influencers, and business people. Appearing live on stage where politicians from the three major parties, including the interim leader of the Official Opposition, and the Premier of Ontario. Only one person could interview them on the issues that matter, and get straight answers, and somehow, that person was me.

GUELPH POLITICAST #126 - Martin Bauman, Canadian Mental Health Association

Mental health has been one of the most talked about issues of the current election, and it's understandable. Over the last few years, the stigma around mental health issues has been receding, and people have been able to share more openly, which has been a good thing. The problem is that the healthcare system is showing the strain.

GUELPH POLITICAST #125 - Kithio Mwanzia on Debate Prep

Guelph's provincial candidates will get together again on Tuesday to face-off in another debate. Well, four of them are. The four major party candidates will be grilled before a live audience, and a TV one, and the one doing the grilling is Kithio Mwanzia, the President and CEO of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce. Today though, he's the one being grilled.

GUELPH POLITICAST #124 - Debate Debrief with Scotty Hertz

You know you have a packed house when you actually have to make the house bigger! That's what happened last Thursday at the All Candidates Debate hosted by the Guelph Wellington Coalition for Social Justice. There's been a lot of arm chair quarterbacking from social media pundits, but now it's time for the semi-amateur official community radio pundits to have their say.

GUELPH POLITICAST #123 - Canadian Federation of Students Ontario

The provincial election has finally begun! It doesn't feel like it, but the campaign is just now getting underway as we count down to the election on June 7. If you're looking for interviews with the local candidate, those will be heard on Open Sources Guelph starting next week. For the next few weeks on the Guelph Politicast, we're going to talk about the issues!

GUELPH POLITICAST #122 - Smart Cities Challenge

It sounds a bit like a reality show. Infrastructure Canada is challenging municipalities, regional governments and First Nations communities from coast to coast to coast to use innovation, data, and technology to address one of the pressing issues of the 21st century. Guelph chose food, and this is a podcast about it.

GUELPH POLITICAST #121 - What Happened in Syria?

7 years, 1 month, 1 week, and 3 days. That's how long the Syrian Civil War has been raging. Most of us understand that there's a crisis there, but do we understand the extend of that crisis? Do we understand who the players are? Do we know why they're fighting? Is there anything that we can do in Canada to address such a huge international crisis?

GUELPH POLITICAST #120 - Clerk O'Brien on Election Rules

The news is full of election stories, and politicos everywhere are eagerly counting down to the beginning of the campaign. That's the provincial story, of course, but there's more than one election this year. We're going to focus on the municipal one for this week's podcast, and if you're thinking about running, or thinking about supporting someone that's running, this one's for you.

GUELPH POLITICAST #119 - Move Out Madness

It's April, and you know what that means! No, we've already had Easter. And April Fools' Day. Sure, Earth Day is next weekend, but we're here today to talk about Move Out Madness, the annual scramble by University of Guelph to pack up their Guelph lives and head home for summer jobs or vacations. This is easier said than done.

GUELPH POLITICAST #118 - Mapping the Ward, An Update

The Ward. It's so ubiquitous to the city that you don't even need to identify it by its full name. It's just the Ward. In the (not literal) shadow of downtown, the Ward is one of the oldest parts of Guelph, and it's seen a lot of changes over the decades, but perhaps none so pronounced as what's happening now. The question: might there be some resentment about that from long-time residents?

GUELPH POLITICAST #117 - Regional Transit

If you don't have a car in Guelph, how do you get to Cambridge? Well, you can get the Greyhound to Kitchener at one of the few times a day it departs and then transfer to Grand River Transit at Sportsworld Drive. You can also take the GO Bus to the Aberfoyle "Park and Ride", wait an hour and get the bus to Kitchener from there. Either way, you could probably walk to Cambridge faster...